KUALA LUMPUR: A high-ranking MIC leader allegedly authorised the purchase of RM1 million worth of books for Tamil schools nationwide, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) learnt yesterday.

Sources said former MIED Capital Sdn Bhd chairman Tan Sri M. Mahalingam told MACC officers that the sum came from Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED), which is under investigation.

Mahalingam, the sources said, was of the view that it was wrong of the MIED, which operates on public donations and government grants, to purchase the books from a publishing house as it served no purpose for the institute.

The sources said Mahalingam alerted the MACC that the RM1 million was part of the more than RM5 million initially reported missing from MIED coffers.

The book, priced at RM150 each, was written by former MIED chief executive officer and financial officer P. Chitrakala Vasu, who is now at the centre of a row with MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu over missing MIED funds and files.

The 300-page book, Samy Vellu, As We Know Him, is a compilation of 97 glowing tributes from people whose lives had been touched by the former Works Minister and MP for Sungai Siput.

The matter came to light on the third day of MACC’s investigations into some RM4 million of MIED funds that were reportedly routed to the accounts of two companies owned by the family of a former key institute officer.

It has been alleged that the sum, paid out by MIED as advances to MIED Capital, a special purpose vehicle formed to manage MIED, was siphoned off to two of the companies after MIED Capital reimbursed the money.

Mahalingam, who was removed as chairman of MIED Capital and MIC treasurer-general on Dec 24, 2008, was the second high-profile MIC leader to be interviewed by the MACC in connection with controversies surrounding the MIED.

Mahalingam confirmed that he had been interviewed but declined further comment.

Earlier, MACC officers recorded a statement from another MIED Capital director, Tan Sri K. Kumaran, who together with Mahalingam, co-signed the three cheques for RM4 million.

Yesterday, the MACC team, examining the financial paper trail, seized more documents. They included the minutes of board meetings between MIED and MIED Capital Sdn Bhd that detail the advances of RM4 million by MIED to its subsidiary.

Sources said the minutes were critical documents as they revealed how the advances were made.

The MACC is expected to question the high-ranking MIC leader next.